Category Archives: Kerrang Magazine

THE FORMER MY CHEM MAN IS WORKING ON NEW MUSIC WITH AN OLD FRIEND – BUT WHEN WILL WE HEAR IT?

FIRST THERE was Frank Iero, with his new band, Death Spells. Then there was Ray Toro, unveiling a new song, Isn’t That Something, through his personal SoundCloud account. And then, last week, Gerard Way revealed the lyrics to his latest track, Millions.

Until now, the younger Way had been the quietest of the quartet – his post-My Chem movements remaining relatively unknown as Gerard, Frank and Ray revealed their plans.

Yet Mikey has evidently been just as busy as all three of his former bandmates, with the bassist joining the frotman of New Jersey-based band New London Fire, David Debiak, in the studio.

The band revealed the news last week by posting an image of Mikey laying a guitar – rather than a bass – on their Twitter page, @NewLondonFire (above). It would appear, though, tat the duo’s work is taking place outside of New London Fire, after the band’s earlier announcement that, “David will be taking a hiatus from NLF to work in a new project; new name, new songs, with an old friensd.”

New London Fire were labelmates with My Chemical Romance during the pair’s time on the now-defunct Eyeball Records, under which MCR released their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.

Quite what the project will sound like, or even when or if it will see the light of day, remains unclear, as the duo are staying tight-lipped on their plans.

One MCR man who has broken his silence though, is Frank Iero – and you can read our world exclusive catch-up with the frotman in Kerrang! on sale September 4. You won’t believe what he’s been working on , either…

“This photo was taken in the downstairs dressing room at Hollywood’s Avalon in October 2006,” says K! photographer Lisa Johnson. “The band were set to debut The Black Parade live for a MySpace fan-only show that night, Gerard had just bleached his hair, and this was the first time I’d seen it.”

SUPER IERO

Here’s Frank taking five minutes out from whirling around onstage like a tattooed dervish. He’s wearing fingerless skeleton gloves, which would serve no real purpose if he was stranded on an ice planet. Anyway, if you want a pair of your own, you can find them on Amazon for a fiver.

TIARAS WILL NEVER HURT YOU

This poster features original drummer Matt Pelissier (left), who was replaced by Bob Bryar in 2004. Matt currently runs his own recording studio and drums for New Jersey band Revenir. We won’t mention the fact that Frank’s wearing a sparkly princess tiara. At all. Nice weather they’re having…

I TOLD YOU WHAT I DO FOR A LIVING

It doesn’t matter if you’re the singer of My Chem or not, everyone on a tour needs a laminate to get backstage. “I snapped this photo of Gerard on the Vans Warped Tour in 2005,” says our photographer, Lisa. “I think this was in Chicago. Gerard’s nickname on his pass is G-Way.”

THREE CHEERS FOR SWEET POSTERS

Here’s a shot taken following the release of 2004’s Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. Frank Iero’s wearing a bulletproof west. Did you know that one of the first forms of body armour was found in medieval Japan? It was made from silk, which is probably just as effective as lettuce.

GERARD AND MIKEY HANGING OUT IN A TRUCK

“This shot of Mikey and Gerard was taken just a few seconds before they took the stage in Milwaukee on the 2005 Vans Warped Tour,” says Lisa. “I loved this photo so much that I made prints for them. From what I’ve heard, Mikey had it proudly displayed on his fridge for years.”

My Chemical Romance’s journey has been astonishing. Growing up in New Jersey, they were at the heart of a scene that spawned the likes of Thursday and other acts associated with the band’s first label, Eyeball. Growing up, all four of the band say they were misfits. Gerard said his time at school was “pretty solitary. I didn’t have too many friends. I was really isolated and found solace at the comic book store. One of my first days in high school I sat all alone at lunchtime. It was the classic story – the weird kid in an army jacket, a horror movie T-shirt, long black hair. People were never really mean to me, though, they mostly just left me alone. I think I wanted to be alone, too”

Frank grew up sneaking into clubs to see his musician father play before joining local act Pencey Prep and gigging in halls, basements and anywhere that would have them. Meanwhile, Ray says he was one of the “invisible masses” in high school, and spent a childhood indoors trying to play Hendrix, Zeppelin and Metallica riffs while pondering a career in film. It was him, Gerard, Mikey and drummer Matt Pelissier who first came together as a band, kick-started by Gerard watching the Twin Towers collapse on September 11 2001, and realising that, with life so fragile, it was worth doing something with it. From that days on, he put down his comic book dreams and turned to music.

“I was in Hoboken, which is right across the Hudson River,” he said. “There were 400 people and me. Right in front of us, those buildings went down. It was the biggest fucking neutron bomb of mental anguish you’ve ever felt. From then on, I was in my parent’s basement with a very small practice amp and a very old Fender guitar. That’s when I wrote Skylines and Turnstiles [as a reaction to what he saw on 9/11] and some of the earlier material. I wrote those songs sitting in my pyjamas with notebooks all around me. It was me going, ‘All this stuff has been inside me for years and I want to get it out,’ I wasn’t depressed at that time exactly, but I mas certainly a hermit”

It was Gerard’s brother, Mikey, who found their name. He worked in a bookstore and, while flicking through the racks one day, came across the Irvine Welsh Book Ecstasy: Three Tales Of Chemical Romance. From then on, their identity was complete. They plagued Thursday’s Geoff Rickly to produce them.

“Gerard came up to me at a party and said, ‘Me and my brother are going to start a band.’ When your friends says that to you at a party, you think, ‘Okay whatever,’ ” recalled Geoff. “He said , ‘No, I’m serious. We’re going to be called My Chemical Romance.’ I laughed and said, ‘Well, at least you’ve got a great name.’ ” But they forced him to the studio in early 2002 and, a few months after they formed, they had made the rough diamond of their debut.

“The beginning of the band was a pretty magic thing,” said Gerard. “We felt like we were on fire, that nobody could touch us. Nobody could figure out what we sounded like, they just knew they liked it. There was this energy – we were like a fucking gang.” Needing an extra guitarist, they turned to their friend in Pencey Prep, Frank, and with the album made, toured it fanatically. It was there, on the road, that they discovered what they had. Something about their intensity, their openness and blackened poetry not only connected with the small crowds they found but inspired, too. From New Jersey nobodies, They became underground somebodies, their power and passion too potent to ignore.

By the time of second album Three Cheers Fro Sweet Revenge, though, the had been knocked off course. Gerard and Mikey’s grandmother died the night they returned from a tour.

“Se died the night I got home,” said Gerard. “The emotions I went though at that moment and over the next six days completely fulled…Revenge. All the fucking anger, the spite, the beef with God, the angst, aggression and the fucking venom all came from those six days. When I lost her, I felt like I lost my mentor.” He took out his frustrations by drinking heavily and popping Xanax, an antianxiety pill. Meanwhile, the pressure on his band to record a major-label album was tightening. “It was a very fucking insane place to be at that moment,” said Gerard.

The album was made in LA, and three of the band – Gerard, Mikey and Frank – threw themselves, at least partially, into a hedonistic lifestyle. “When we weren’t making music, there was such a fog. Some of us were experimenting with pills. We’d all just vanish for days when we weren’t in the studio,” said Gerard. But the record they made was extraordinary. Furious, ambitious, imaginative, howking punk-rock, it was stunning. In lead tracks like I’m Not Okay (I promise) and Helena, they had written anthems. Yet as it was readied for release, the band were in trouble. Drummer Matt Pelissier was becoming isolated – eventually sacked was becoming isolated – eventually sacked and replaced by Bob Bryar – while Gerard was drinking to the point of breakdown.

An eight-ball of cocaine, handful of pills and his daily bottle of vodka in Kansas in 2004 caused one collapse, while binge-drinking sake in Japan soon after persuaded him to get help. As he got clean, so Three Cheers…became a phenomenon. No rock band in years had created the impact My Chemical Romance had then. Their fans were not simply fans; it became almost a cliche for crowd to tell band they had saved their lives.

And so it built, through the recording of The Black Parade and on until Danger Days vibrant slashes of colour and sound. They were the biggest, most innovative, most glorious band of the last decade. Four kids from New Jersey did something when they came together that no other band in 12 years has equalled: they created music that gave people a reason to live. How many others can say the same?

Where they go from there is anyone’s guess, but it seems unlikely we’ll not hear more from them. Gerard has already proven his talents as a comic book creator with the The Umbrella Academy, while Ray is too gifted to keep quiet for too long and might make a brilliant producer. Mikey has hinted in the past that he might work on comic books, while Frank’s future is perhaps clearest: his Death Spells side-project is touring with Gerard’s wife’s band, Mindless Self Indulgence. But, for now, it looks like it’s all over. For good? Gerard Way has responded to a 16,00-strong online petition requesting a farewell tour saying, “I think it would be best to spend some more time with my letter though, as time and understanding will make it clearer why this cannot be.”

It would be a shame, though, if the most important, perfect rock band of the last decade should come to an end with a whimper rather than the grand explosion they deserve. So long My Chemical Romance.

As yet, there are no reasons for the band’s break-up. They will, presumably, leak out over time. The band’s guitarist, Frank Iero, posted online, “Things that should be simple and easy rarely ever are.” Gerard Way, the band’s iconic singer, penned a lengthy tweet, stating that he felt a change in the way he felt about the band onstage at Asbury Park, New Jersey, on May 19 last year, at The Bamboozle Festival.

“Something is wrong,” he recalled. “I am acting. I never act onstage, even when it appears that I am, even when I’m hamming it up or delivering a soliloquy. Suddenly, I have become highly self-aware, almost as if waking from a dream. I began to move faster, more frantic, reckless – trying to shake it off – but all it began to create was silence. The amps, the cheers, all began to fade“

There are, of course, rumours. None are rooted in fact. Could it be that the band were at war with their label? Could it be a cryptic message? Or could it just nod to the image that adorned album number one…Then there’s a tweet from Mrs Way, Lyn-Z of Mindless Self Indulgence:“A new adventure is about to take place and I for one will be on that ride! Who’s coming with me?” another Clue?There are those who work with My Chemical Romance who see it as something simpler still. Insiders in their record company have pointed out that Frank and Gerard have young families. But then those same record company insiders previously talked of the band’s Hollywood space i which they were recording over Christmas. There, in a hang-out-pad-cum-studio, they had been laying down tentative tracks, for a new album.

The Kill Hannah frontman, Mat Devine – a friend of the band, on whose solo album Gerard has sung, who obliquely tweeted “When one door opens another closes” on the weekend of the split – has heard the fruits of those sessions, saying the band have evolved, and adding that it was a new phase for My Chemical Romance. With six songs laid roughly down, now seems an odd time to bring things to an end. But then there were no release dates chalked down; no plans to unveil another grand album to the world. Perhaps, it was simply time.

My Chemical Romance have been here before. When they walked offstage at Madison Square Garden on May 9 2008, the lights not only went off in the venue, they nearly went down on the band too. They were exhausted- burned-out from touring The Black Parade. That night was a culmination, a triumph, and the end of an album cycle in which they’d gone from underdogs to world-conquering heroes. But as Helena’s last notes were drowned out by Cheers, backstage, Gerard and guitarist Ray Toro knew it was all over. “Ray said to me, maybe you need a break, maybe you need to go and get stuff out of your system,” said Gerard later. “I remember saying that night, if we never do this again, thank you. What’s scary is that it felt like it was okay to say that. It felt accurate.”

“We had an energy – we were a gang…” –Gerard Way

Then, though, the circumstances were different. The Black Parade tour had become a monster – something that picked them up and whipped them along the road to burn out. “There was injury upon death upon illness [during the Black Parade tour],” said Frank. “It felt like we were being run along a cheese grater. We were leaving bits of ourselves all over the world. When something drains you as much as it did after Black Parade, you end up not knowing if you want to do it any more. Tou still have the love, but maybe not the want. There was something in the back of my head asking, ‘Is this going to happen again? Are we done?'”

“That Madison Square Garden show really felt like it was the closing credits,” Said the band’s bassist Mikey Way. “It was weird. It felt like it might have been the end.”

It was a record that had always taken its toll on the band. Its birth was torturous: in a lonely, creaking LA mansion, the band turned in on themselves as Ray became such a taskmaster that he later publicly apologised to Mikey in the pages of Kerrang!. The bassist had other issues, thought; he hat to leave the recording, suffering from anxiety and problems with drugs and alcohol. Gerard, too, felt he was under incredible pressure. He took a moment out from the studio, high up in the Hollywood Hills, to gaze at glittering LA below him.

“I was wondering what the hell I was going with my life,” he said shortly after the record was released. “I went through a crisis. I was examining every awful thing about myself. I was cutting myself open and taking all the parts out and examining them. ‘Wow’, I’m not a likeable person,’ I found I was a coward. I became very susceptible to depression. “It wasn’t the happiest time. I was extremely intense. I was living inside the record. It really did felt Like Something Was coming after us. We couldn’t escape it. It was there every time we turned a corner. It was just staring at us. It was a dark Time.”

And this was before My Chemical Romance went out on the road for two years. There, life got darker still. The response to the record was, rightly, phenomenal. But inside the band, that was harder to accept than it might sound to an outsider. In the course of their time on the road, they became as hated as they were adored, dividing opinion across the world. They became the figureheads of a genre they wished to have no part of – emo – and sensationalist journalist blamed them for the suicide of a teenager.

They were held responsible for the beatings of black-clad teenagers in Mexico, and were prodded and poked at by the world’s media. Their music seemed to have been forgotten in the whirlwind, while they themselves felt lost inside the thing they had created. “We created something and unleashed it onto the world and then, a year later, it had taken on a new life,” said Frank afterwards. “It was like a bastardised version of what we had done. It got weird.”

“It was a record that was so misconstrued on so many levels,” agreed Gerard. “It was really difficult and it took a toll on me. People in Mexico were getting hate-crimed on because they wore black and so anywhere we went that’s what people would talk music. That upset me. They were just talking about mascara and bullshit like that. I felt so small.” And so that’s why they wanted to bring it all to an end in Madison Square Garden. And it would have been a fitting finale, too; for that watching the Smashing Pumpkins in 1992. It was there that one brother turned to the other and said. ‘ This os what we’ve got to do.’ For them to have pulled the plug after that show, in the same room in which the after that show, in the same room in which the nascent band first began, would have been the sort of fitting farewell you might expect from My Chem.

This now? This feels like something else. This is not a band tired from the road, nor one rattled by media, fans or exhaustion. This is a rested band who quite deliberately retreated from The Black Parade hoopla with the stripped back Danger Days… and who had crafted a new space in which to exist. Somehow, this doesn’t feel right – this doesn’t feel like how it should end.

-K!

Rock Reacts! The stars took to Twitter to joig you in mourning MCR…Click Here

So, My Chemical Romance – The band that defined rock for a decade – Are gone. But what a journey it’s been. The writer who knew them best, tom Bryant, looks back over their story, and asks: what next?

What a curious way to go. When My Chemical Romance announced their decision to break up, they did so with no fanfare, no fireworks and no dramatics. Instead, a simple 82-word post on their website called time on perhaps the most important rock band of the last decade. It just seemed so un-them… In the last 12 years, MCR have unfurled grand albums with ticker tape parade videos, marching bands and bombast. They’ve caused demonstrations outside newspaper offices and inspired a generation to be themselves.

They’ve headlined festivals as pyrotechnics have fizzed behind them, and become global megastars with whirling, glorious concept albums of both spiralling technicolor stark monochromes. All around them has been an air of something grander, more wonderful, than the picture we’re present with. From darkness to glory, through depression to flamboyance. Style? They oozed the stuff. And then this, posted on their website on the evening of March 22:

“Being in this band for the past 12 yeas has been a true blessing. We’ve gotten to go places we never knew we would. We’ve been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible. We’ve shared the stage with people with admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all of your support, and for being part of the adventure.”

So long and goodnight, indeed. It brings an end to 12 years of music: the early promise of 2002’s I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love – raw, jagged and underground – bled into the breakthrough, heart-bleed punk of Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (2004). Next, their grand piece of pomp and circumstance: 2006’s giant concept album, The Black Parade, which made them giant stars – figureheads for a who delved deep into the vision they created. And then 2010’s Danger days: the true lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, in which they tore it all down and started again, redefining themselves as only the greatest can. Their departure leaves a hole: where are the other bands daring to create whole worlds in their music?. Who can inspire legions of fans to adopt the alter egos in Danger Days? What other bands can get the Daily Mail into such a lather that they brand them a suicide cult? Rock without My Chemical Romance is a far less thrilling place to be.

AS THE DUST SETTLES ON MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE’S SPLIT, KERRANG! RE-EXAMINES THE LAST 11 DAYS’ FACTS…

“Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing. We’ve gotten to go places er never knew we would. We’ve been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible. We’ve shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all of your support, and for being part of the adventure.”

After 12 years, four studio albums, countless world tours and with rock forever changed by their influence, just 82 words called time on My Chemical Romance in the early hours of last Saturday morning (March 23).

The announcement was a stunning and dramatic – if unsuitably abrupt – end to one of the most innovative rock bands of the past two decades.

Formed in New Jersey in 2001, each of the band’s four albums, from 2002’s debut, I brought you my bullets, you brought me your love through to 2010’s Danger days: the true lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, set out to not only reinvent the band, but the rock genre.

The one-paragraph statement appeared a cold, almost clinical end to a band into which these four had poured a lifetime of creativity and energy. It answered. Conspiracy theories and their wider family spread. Less than 48 hours later, though, Gerard Way elaborated in a 2,200-word blog post that went some way to clarifying the situation.

“There are many reasons My Chemical Romance ended,” Gerard Way said. “The triggerman is unimportant, as was always the messengers – but the message, again as always, is the important thing. But to reiterate, this is my account, my reasons and my feelings. And I can assure you there was no divorce, argument, failure, accident, villain, or knife in the back that caused this. Again this was no-one’s fault, and it had been quietly in the works, whether we knew it or not, long before any sensationalism, scandal, or rumour.”

Gerard’s brother ans bandmate, Mikey Way, had earlier tweeted to address rumours that his private life informed the band’s decision to split.

Gerard further pointed to a refusal to accept MCR’s ideals becoming “compromised”, as well as the aftermath of a show at the Bamboozle Festival in the band’s hometown in May 2012 as catalysts behind the decision. “I hollowed out, stopped listening to music, never picked up a pencil, started slipping into old habits,” Gerard explained of the following weeks. “All of the vibrancy I used to see art or magic in everything, especially the mundane. The ability was buried under wreckage.”

“When one door closes, another opens. You should not despair” – Mat Devine

At the time of going to press, guitarists Frank Iero an Ray Toro had not commented. Kerrang! approached representatives from the band’s management and record label, Warner Bros, but any further comment was politely declined.

My Chemical Romance had for some months been working on their fifth album, and Kill Hannah frontman Mat Devine – a close personal friend of Gerard – told Kerrang! as recently as March that he’d heard four of six songs that were to make up the album. Speaking to Kerrang! last week, Mat remained upbeat as to what the future held for his friend.

“MCR fans shouldn’t despair,” Mat said. “when one door closes, another opens. The best artist aren’t simply talented; they’re bold, fearless, committed and, most of all, honest. Be thankful Gerard is one of those artists, and your belief in him will always be rewarded.”

Frank Iero, meanwhile, is scheduled to play America’s Skate And Surf Festival in May with LeATHERMOUTH, the hardcore side-project he established in 2007. Furthermore, James Dewees of The Get Up Kids last week confirmed that he was starting a new band, Death Spells, alongside Iero.

“I’m not 100 per cent sure, but Gerard wants to do other stuff [and] Frank wants to do other stuff,” he told U.S website Property Of Zack, of My Chemical Romance’s break-up. “They all want to. It doesn’t mean it’ll never happen again, but that everyone wants a real break.” So, as just a handful of words marked the band’s end, it seems fitting that a handful more bring the curtain down on the news. “Since I am bad with goodbyes. I refuse to let this be one. But I will leave you with one last thing,” Gerard closed his personal statement. “My Chemical Romance is done. But it can never die. It is alive in me, in the guys, and it is alive inside all of you. I always knew that, and I think you did, too. Because it is not a band. – it is an idea.”

With the dust still settling from their sudden split at the weekend, there are still many questions left unanswered, and few clues as to what the future holds for the band.

In this blog post we speculate on what the future holds for the individual members of My Chemical Romance, ponder whether they will ever make a comeback – and muse what may become of the existing songs from the now infamous fifth MCR record.

Gerard Way:

In the MCR frontman’s farewell letterregarding the band’s break-up, there’s a section titled ‘And another opens-‘ (in reference to a new beginning), in which Gerard seems to make some pretty clear allusions to what the comes next for him and implies that his future still lies in music. For example, he discusses purchasing a new amp:

“The purpose of the meeting was the delivery of an amplifier into my possession. I had recently purchased the amp from him and we both agreed that shipping would jostle the tubes […] A Fender Princeton Amp from 1965, non reverb. A beautiful little device.”

He also discusses a memory of first picking up his guitar to write one of My Chemical Romance’s earliest songs, Skylines And Turnstiles:

“When I wanted to start My Chemical Romance, I began by sitting in my parent’s basement, picking up an instrument I had long abandoned for the brush- a guitar. […] I plugged this into a baby Crate Amp with built in distortion and began the first chords of Skylines and Turnstiles.”

But this, for us is the key part when decoding what Gerard’s next move will be:

“I still have that guitar, and it’s sitting next to The Princeton. He has a voice, and I would like to hear what it has to say.“

To us, this is a pretty clear indicator that Gerard is about to embark on a new musical journey of his own. Will he be playing guitar in it? We’re not sure, but it appears that he has gone back to the drawing board with regards to songwriting, returning to his earliest roots that parallel the beginnings of My Chemical Romance. This, ladies and gentlemen, is very exciting.

Would he form an entirely new band of his own? Or would it be a solo project? We have no idea. We know that Gerard features on Kill Hannah frontman Mat Devine’s new solo project so perhaps there would be room for them to further collaborate with each other in the future. Shortly after MCR’s break-up Mat tweeted the following message, could this mean that Mat and Gerards musical future are more intertwined than just a one song collaboration?:

We also know that Gerard’s wife, Lyn-Z, is the bass player for Mindless Self Indulgence. Gerard’s no stranger to having his close family in bands, see brother Mikey Way, so maybe there would be room for her in a future band. If Gerard does form a new band would any other members of MCR be in it? Would they cover My Chem songs? We just don’t know. For now, we can only speculate.

Gerard has a comic book based on The Fabulous Killjoys concept from the band’s last record coming out in June. Perhaps this will yield further clues or references about the band’s break-up. Perhaps not. We’ll be the first in line to have a look though and just having a sneak peak at what’s been released already, it looks awesome.Here’s Skylines And Turnstiles that Gerard referenced in his farewell letter. Could it be a taste of things to come?:

MIKEY WAY:

Issues in Mikey’s personal life have been widely speculated on by the media recently. We’re not about to do the same here, but based on these rumours it would be understandable if Mikey decided to take some time out from musical projects. This tweet from Mikey following MCR’s split aims help clear up any debate about what impact his private life has had on the band:

FRANK IERO:

Alongside playing rhythm guitar in My Chemical Romance, Frank also has a side project by the name of Leathermouth. He formed the band in 2007, playing a mix of hardcore and post punk and crucially, Frank has been known to focus on the band during his downtime from MCR. With the breakup of My Chem, Frank has no doubt suddenly found himself with a lot of downtime. So much so that he’s recently announced he’s started a new band called Death Spells. There’s certainly more to come from this new band and it’s doesn’t take a wild stretch of the imagination to speculate that we may be about to hear a lot more from Leathermouth too – the band even have an upcoming show booked, being scheduled to play New Jersey’s Skate and Surf Festival on May 19. And what could all of this mean for Ray Toro? Scroll down and find out…

Leathermouth soon to be Frank Iero’s main focus?:

RAY TORO:

In December 2012 Ray became a father. With such a young child, we could understand if Ray took some time off. But what if he get’s a calling to hit the stage again? Well Ray has played live with Frank Iero’s Leathermouth before; could there perhaps be a further collaboration between the two if Leathermouth become Frank’s main focus? We will wait and see.

Check out Ray Toro playing with Frank Iero’s Leathermouth below:

ALBUM NUMBER FIVE:

We know that the band were working on their next album, that’s partly why it came as such a shock that the band were to split. Will the tracks that have been written ever see the light of day? The band released Conventional Weapons, the album that was supposed to be MCR’s record number 4 before it was scrapped, as a series of singles. Can we expect the what exists of MCR 5 to receive the same treatment?

We know that there are at least four tracks recorded and we know that they’re in listenable condition as Mat Devine of Kill Hannah, and a close friend of Gerard Way talked to Kerrang! Radio a couple of weeks ago about what he had heard of album number 5 so far:

“I’ve heard four new songs. It’s exactly in line with what My Chem fans will be thrilled to hear, but at the same time it really marks what I think is a new phase (for the band).

“It’s super-refreshing, but at the same time familiar in the way you want it to be.”

Will these songs ever be heard? Only time will tell. If not is would be a spectacular waste, but we have another theory of what fate could belie the tracks. Speculating wildIy, for a change, it could be possible that Gerard could carry the songs that the band has written over into a future project. Maybe re-write and tweak them, but hypothetically speaking they’d be the same songs. Just think, the first taste of Gerard’s new material, presuming there will be some, could potentially be the last echoes of My Chemical Romance – and we would never even know.

FAREWELL TOUR/REUNION?:

16,058. That’s the number of signatures that, at the time of writing, are on a petitionaiming to get My Chemical Romance to do a farewell tour. It seems like such a brutal thing to do after 12 years; break such a brilliant band up and never even play so much as a last show. The fans to give MCR a proper send off, but do the band? We hope so but we wouldn’t hold our breath for it. The break-up seems pretty final and we can’t imagine them playing again so soon.

But what about further down the line? It wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility for My Chemical Romance to reunite. They’ve played together for over a decade, grown from boys to men and travelled the world. Two of them are brothers but all of them, collectively, are a family. It’s deeply saddening to thing that My Chemical Romance may never take to the stage together again so we can only hope that the bond between them as friends and as family is strong enough to survive the band’s split and that they may one day make their return.

What will happen to the band, it’s members and the record that could have been? It’s probable that the band themselves don’t even know yet – but you can rest assured that as soon as it becomes clear, Kerrang! will be there to continue the story.

What do you think comes next for members of MCR? Will they ever release the foundations of the fifth album? Let us know what you think in the comments.

It’s still hard to believe right now but twelve years, six Kerrang! Awards and four albums after My Chemical Romance first burst onto the scene, it’s all over. With their famous last words still ringing in our ears we’ve put together a playlist of the band’s 10 greatest video moments.

Watch, singalong, laugh and even have a sneaky cry – not that we did, we just had something in our eye, honest. When you’re done let us know your personal favourite MCR moment of all time in the comments.

The immortal opening line:

For many fans, their first taste of My Chemical Romance was I’m Not Okay (I Promise), the debut single from their second record that propelled them into the international spotlight. It may have been eight years since these immortal lines were uttered but has there ever been a better start to a music video since?

Even in this low budget video for their debut record, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love (2002), you can see the early potential that MCR possessed. You can also see Frank Iero’s dreadlocks. Weird!:

The 2005 Kerrang! Awards:

Kerrang! and our readers certainly saw the band’s potential and 2005 saw the MCR receive a whopping five Kerrang! Award nominations, taking the award for Best Video for Helena and beating Green Day, Foo Fighters, Trivium and System Of A Down to take home Best Album:

The no underwear announcement at Download 2005:

“I know something you don’t…” yells Gerard. “I’m not wearing any underwear! We’re gonna get sexy for a minute!” Just part of the madness that was My Chem’s Download 2005 set:

The number 1 single:

This is the song that took the band from The Black Parade to the top of the hit parade, earning them the UK number 1 single spot. Coupled with one of the most iconic videos of a generation, there’s nothing much more to say other than play this masterpiece loud:

The behind the scenes of that iconic video:

Take Gerard Way’s vision, combine it with Sam Bayer’s (the guy who did music videos for The Smashing Pumpkins, Green Day, Nirvana etc) directing skills, add a hundred or so extras, some buckets full of dust and costumes fit for a feature film. What do you get? A visual and stylistic bombshell. This mini documentary shows how the whole thing was brought together:

The pre-headline slot Kerrang! Podcast at Reading 2011:

Shortly before their Reading 2011 headline slot Mikey and Gerard spoke on the Kerrang! Podcast about having a surprise for the show lined up that was “Better than jetpacks”…:

The incredible Brian May moment:

And here’s that incredible “better than jetpacks” Reading moment; My Chemical Romance playing We Will Rock You with Queen’s Brian May as they headline Reading 2011. Truly epic:

The ghostly Kerrang! Awards 2012 acceptance speech:

They also gave us one of the strangest Kerrang! Award acceptance videos of all time when they won Best International Band 2012:

The catchiest song in the world?:

“Louder than God’s revolver and twice as shiny…” will there ever be a song catchier than Na Na Na? We’re inclined to say no no no there won’t:

Bonus video number 11:

There were too many moments to choose from and this video is just too great to leave out. So long and goodnight MCR:

Meanwhile, in the time that has passed since the story broke, Twitter has been buzzing with rumours. One rumour in particular however seems to be snowballing; the idea that MCR have ‘split’ in order to leave their record label, making them free to reform under a different name and continue with the same members and a fresh start.

Whilst there’s no concrete evidence or proof for this, and no further official statements have been made to confirm or deny the rumour, we couldn’t help but try and put some of the pieces together.

Are we all just in denial? Is this just the wishful thinking of die hard fans or is there really more than meets the eye? Call us K! conspiracy nuts, but let’s look at what we know so far…

The black blog post:

Let’s face it, a paragraph doesn’t seem like a fitting way to call time on a twelve year journey and for one of the biggest bands on the planet to say goodbye. For all we know there may be a bigger statement to follow, but the existing black blog post just seems too abrupt and seems to leave too many things unsaid – it’s a gesture bordering on cold and an undeniably abrupt end to something that means so much to so many people.

Houdini and the final tweet:

Gerard Way’s final tweet, below, contains a picture of Harry Houdini, the famous escapologist, undertaking a dramatic escape as a publicity stunt. Is this all an elaborate publicity stunt? Could this be a hint that the members of MCR are trying to escape their label?

Is the image a reference to the opening line of the video to I’m Not Okay (I Promise), [“You like D&D, Audrey Hepburn, Fangoria, Harry Houdini, and croquet. You can’t swim, can’t dance, and you don’t know karate. Face it, you’re never gonna make it.“] – If so what does this mean?

We know for sure that the image appears on the sleeve of the band’s first record. Could this be a hint at a rebirth for the band? Whatever the case, like the black blog post, it almost feels too short to be sincere.

Want to know something spooky? Today is Houdini’s birthday.

The fifth studio album:

Until the sudden split My Chemical Romance were hard at work on their fifth studio record. How can a band go from sculpting their future to dissolving everything that they have overnight? To us, this just doesn’t add up.

The people closest to MCR’s reactions:

Lyn-z Way, Gerard’s wife published an extended tweet that stated, amongst other things, “I understand the need for change and the desire to begin again” and “The future starts right now. A new adventure is about to take place and I for one will be on that ride! Who’s coming with me?” – if you read this in light of the rumour that MCR are trying to reboot in order to leave their label then this post has some extremely interesting implications.

Then there’s the intriguing case of Mat Devine from Kill Hannah’s tweet, below. He’s a close personal friend of Gerard, is this a sign that there’s more to come from MCR? Or even a collaboration between Gerard and Mat?

The previous use of alter egos:

My Chem are no newcomers to using alter-egos and pseudonyms. When we saw them in 2006 they announce on the PA that My Chemical Romance would not be performing, and then played under the pseudonym of The Black Parade. Plus on the last record they referred to themselves as The Fabulous Killjoys. Could the abrupt split be little more than a name change? What would happen to the recordings that have been completed for album number five in that were the case?

Frank Iero’s new band?:

Finally there’s a blog post circulating that states that Frank Iero and James Dewees of The Get Up Kids are starting a new electronic hardcore band. What impact will this have on MCR?

All we have right now is speculation and questions, but make sure to keep your eyes on Kerrang.com for more updates and all the latest facts as we get them.

Be sure to add your take on these clues and rumours below. Is there more to come from the members of My Chemical Romance?

MY CHEMI-KILL ROMANCE!

KILL HANNAH frontman Mat Devine might currently be busy recording music minus the help of his bandmaster, but the vocalist haven’t been too lonely in the studio – he’s had a guest to keep him company!

“Gerard and I have known each other from the very beginning”

Mat says of his friendship with the My Chemical Romance frontman.

“I have the first ever cassette that My Chem did and Mikey [Way MCR bassist] was at one time going to be in Kill Hannah. He was a 16-years-old kid, and I had to talk to his mom on the phone because we wanted him to fly out Chicago! (Laugh) That’s how long we’re known each other!”-

Luckily for Mat, Gerard certainly didn’t need permission from anyone to fly to Los Angeles last week and work on a track for Gold Blooded, the frontman’s first solo album, which will be released this summer.

“The track we worked on is a real daring song” Mat reveals “It’s a ballad a very tender love-song dutt intended for a guy and a girl called Falling In Love Will Kill You. When Gerard and I sing it together, something really crazy happens. The song is also a real statement” he continues. “I say it’s daring because as far as I know, I’ve never heard two male singers in a love-song dutt. It was one of those things where the minute Gerard got in the [studio’s vocal] booth, everyone started high-fiving. It was wonderful, one of those moments that you know you’ll always remember.”

“MIKEY WAY NEARLY JOINED KILL HANNAH” Mat Devine

Matt also has a message for Kill Hannah fans who are worried about yet another delay to the band’s first album since 2009.

“We’ve finished writing a new record, and it’s insane but in terms of actually releasing it, the conversations are endless” Mat admits “We’ve been through four managers and three major record labels, so going forward…we need everything to be right. And realistically, that means it won’t be out until 2014.”

In the meantime, though, Mat attentions are all about Gold Blooded – and maybe returning the favour to Gerard.

“If all works out, I’m definitely gonna head down and do some vocals in the next My Chemical Romance album” Mat says. “We’ll see. This is the most Gerard and I have hung out in a long time though, and I don’t want to be the guy hanging around outside his house [laughs]”

Mat Devone’s Gold Blooded is scheduled for release in August 6

MCR: THE NEW ALBUM!

“There are six songs – and I’ve heard four!”

Mat spills the beans on the top-secret new MCR record! He’s like a rock spy…

Gerard Way’s not only been busy working with Mat on his sale EP, it the Kill Hannah mean is to be believed. Oh no -Gerard’s also been busy tackling (deep breath, now) the next My Chemical Romance album. And Mat’s heard some of it!

“It’s incredible!” Mat says of one of rock’s most anticipated records. “It’s a slightly new territory; it’s an evolution. I’ve heard four new songs. It’s exactly in line with what My Chem fans will be thrilled to hear, but at the same time it really marks what I think is a new phase [for the band]. It’s super-refreshing, but at the same time familiar in the way you want it to be.”

And Mat would know, too, as he hast first-hand experience of some of the songs!

“Gerard has air songs, and he’s looking for some more” Mat says. “It’d be kind of impact on the record be’s making, but I’m asking [about it] might be turning his head a little bit. If you don’t mind. Matt..we’ll be sending you a list of thing’s we’d love to sing on that new MCR record” be a pai and plant a few atem it’s Gerard’s mind for us, would ya?

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